Kansas City-based banking company Commerce Bancshares said demand for business real estate loans and consumer mortgages helped lift earnings in the final months of 2016, which boosted profits for the year. File photo

Kansas City-based banking company Commerce Bancshares said demand for business real estate loans and consumer mortgages helped lift earnings in the final months of 2016, which boosted profits for the year. File photo

Commerce said higher loan volumes led to $71.6 million in profits during October, November and December, or 68 cents a share. A year ago, Commerce earned $63.7 million, or 60 cents a share in the quarter.

For the year, the company earned $275.4 million, or $2.61 a share, compared with $263.7 million, or $2.43 a share, a year ago.

Loan balances ended 2016 at $13.4 billion, compared with $12.4 billion a year earlier. Commerce said loan growth in the quarter came from business real estate loan borrowers as well as consumers seeking residential mortgages and other kinds of loans.

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Assets were $25.6 billion at the end of December, including $9.8 billion in investment securities. Deposits totaled $21.1 billion. The quarterly profit equaled a 1.14 percent return on average assets during the quarter.